PNG Contemporary Art – Going Further & Fetching Higher Prices

I’ve always been a big fan of PNG art and it’s been encouraging to see that contemporary art from PNG is continue to grow slowly – making inroads in the most unexpected of all places.

It’s also surprising to note the growing number of websites (look at my links under ‘PNG Art’) that are promoting not only PNG art, but also Pacific art in general. One website I stumbled across recently thanks to their regular advertising in Pacific Connection, the Pacific Cooperation Foundation’s periodic magazine, is okaioceanikart.com.

When you click on the link above, a page will show up with a list of Pacific artists – a significant number of those artists are from PNG. A large chunk of the PNG group have been heavily influenced by the late Mathias Kauage, PNG’s best known contemporary artist, including his wife, brother in-law, and one former student – John Bom.

Daniel Waswas, arguably the most well-known PNG artist alive and founder of Gallery PNG, is also profiled in that list. The most expensive painting I found selling on okaioceanikart.com was a Waswas’ acrylic on canvas titled Look Within 2. This particular piece was actually used as the cover photo of the front page of Pacific Connection Issue 18: December 2008 – February 2009.

Here is Look Within 2:

NOTE: Oh, and yes, did I mention, it’s selling for $NZ 18,000 – roughly PGK 30,000. Not bad eh?

~ by Tavurvur on March 31, 2009.